Tesla has ruined cars for me.

VincentHanna · 19 Jan 2018 at 12:12

I guess wait until we see a Tesla Roadster do a Nurburgring lap, seeing as the P85D is just a normal saloon car.

sigma · 19 Jan 2018 at 12:16

VincentHanna said:
I guess wait until we see a Tesla Roadster do a Nurburgring lap, seeing as the P85D is just a normal saloon car.

Let's also not forget the many years and iterations of development that those cars/manufacturers have had in comparison...

Skillmister · 19 Jan 2018 at 12:59

mrk said:
Once 120MPH was hit, the petrol car pulls away.

That will come in handy on the A55

VincentHanna · 19 Jan 2018 at 13:09

Skillmister said:
That will come in handy on the A55

Yeah, if you are the Police trying to catch off duty paramedics

Skillmister · 19 Jan 2018 at 13:10

VincentHanna said:
Yeah, if you are the Police trying to catch off duty paramedics

Exactly

McPhee · 19 Jan 2018 at 19:13

Dav4 said:
Granted I have never driven a Tesla and for instant bursts of brutal acceleration and 0-60 traffic light Grand Prixs you can probably count on one hand the other few super cars that can put the power down and match it but I feel the Tesla is often put on a massive pedestal by many especially on the Internet by fanboys who make it out to be untouchable.
Take this episode of head 2 head on Netflix for instance where they compared the Tesla against the Charger SRT Hellcat which is a 5 door car with a 0-60 of 3.7 seconds and only costs just over half what the Tesla does. Granted the Tesla wins by 1 second on the drag but the Charger is reeling it in and supposedly has a better 60-100 and 100+ acceleration time compared to the Tesla. Plus how long would the Tesla last in real world drving with it in sport mode all the time before needing charging? And given the price difference you could have 2 excellent cars compared to the 1 Tesla. Plus the noise alone from a proper car would be enough for me over the quiet sterile Tesla anyday.

There certainly is an element of the car being vastly over-hyped. But it's the comparisons to specialist and specialised vehicles that deliver this.

The Model S wasn't designed for drag racing. It wasn't designed for hammering it round the Nuremberg Ring. It's a practical, 5/7 seater luxury saloon that was built to be quick in a straight line because it grabs headlines and could be done without compromising on efficiency (the P100D is rated 99MPGe by the EPA). Outside of short bursts of heavy, headline-grabbing, acceleration, it's built for ordinary road use; totaling down to Sainsbury's, driving to work, heading to France for a holiday.

I suppose that's half the giggle. Everyone knows the Model S isn't built for racing. So it's somewhat amusing to see it beat cars that are. It comes across as being effortless, Tesla basically saying "Look, this is us beating you without actually trying".

It's far from an optimum example of what an electric drivetrain can do. It will be interesting to see what the MKII Roadster is capable of.

Nasher · 19 Jan 2018 at 20:21

VincentHanna said:
I guess wait until we see a Tesla Roadster do a Nurburgring lap, seeing as the P85D is just a normal saloon car.

Yea they need to do a LOT of work on cooling though. The current Teslas will overheat and go limp before the end of a hot lap on the Nurbergring, which ends up with them finishing slower than cars with less than half the power. That's why you don't see many videos of it.

They are good for doing quick drag races, but they aren't good track cars. Not yet anyway.

ShivP · 19 Jan 2018 at 21:03

A 2.2 tonne road saloon car isn't a good track car :confused:

McPhee · 19 Jan 2018 at 21:43

Shivy011 said:
A 2.2 tonne road saloon car isn't a good track car

Aye.

Foregone conclusion. Which has always been the point; that the Model S is as good as it is is somewhat preposterous. Built by a company that didn't exist 10 years ago, using tech that nobody had managed to use successfully before. It's big. It's heavy. People have even camped in the thing; it's big enough for a twin bed with the seats down.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Model 3 is quicker round Nuremberg TBH. Much lighter. Newer, so possibly better cooling.

Dr Jack · 19 Jan 2018 at 22:23

VincentHanna said:
That's nice and everything, but where are you going to need that speed in real-world driving?

Yeah, exactly. Give me low down torque and it'll be fun on the weekly driving but unless you're at a track who cares about what happens past 120? Even on the Autobahns on the way back from Hamburg I struggle to hit that and, honestly, I don't want to either.

Dr Jack · 19 Jan 2018 at 22:27

Nasher said:
Yea they need to do a LOT of work on cooling though. The current Teslas will overheat and go limp before the end of a hot lap on the Nurbergring, which ends up with them finishing slower than cars with less than half the power. That's why you don't see many videos of it.

They are good for doing quick drag races, but they aren't good track cars. Not yet anyway.

What was it May says about cars that are designed for the Nürburgring?

Unless your actually taking your car on track days, who cares how it performs? It's meaningless. And, even if you do, unless you're lucky enough to drive a host of different cars, so long as it's fun, who cares? It's top trumps.

Joe T · 20 Jan 2018 at 10:11

Nasher said:
Yea they need to do a LOT of work on cooling though. The current Teslas will overheat and go limp before the end of a hot lap on the Nurbergring, which ends up with them finishing slower than cars with less than half the power. That's why you don't see many videos of it.

They are good for doing quick drag races, but they aren't good track cars. Not yet anyway.

Why do you think a Tesla should be good around a track????

Nasher · 20 Jan 2018 at 11:08

Joe T said:
Why do you think a Tesla should be good around a track????

Surely that's the point in the roadster, since they boast it will be the fastest road car ever. If it can't manage one lap on a track day people will be disappointed...

If that's the case, what they mean is it's the fastest car away from the lights ever. But not much else.

Lashout_UK · 20 Jan 2018 at 11:45

Nasher said:
Surely that's the point in the roadster, since they boast it will be the fastest road car ever. If it can't manage one lap on a track day people will be disappointed...

If that's the case, what they mean is it's the fastest car away from the lights ever. But not much else.

It's not going to be the fastest (Chiron), but it might be the quickest accelerating (although there's been no formal testing of its performance capabilities yet). Few will ever track their Tesla Roadster, so it's a moot point. Just bragging rights. No one is surprised by quick EVs, at any rate – it's dead easy.

By the time it arrives, however, other cars may have moved the game on.

kitkat9933 · 20 Jan 2018 at 16:13

Lashout_UK said:
It's not going to be the fastest (Chiron), but it might be the quickest accelerating (although there's been no formal testing of its performance capabilities yet). Few will ever track their Tesla Roadster, so it's a moot point. Just bragging rights. No one is surprised by quick EVs, at any rate – it's dead easy.

By the time it arrives, however, other cars may have moved the game on.

The fastest ice car is not the Chiron yet.

CaptainRAVE · 20 Jan 2018 at 20:28

The lack of noise/whine is a boner killer for me.

Dr Jack · 20 Jan 2018 at 22:21

CaptainRAVE said:
The lack of noise/whine is a boner killer for me.

I suspect in thirty years time there will be a small group of enthusiasts going on about petrol cars in the same way as vinyl enthusiasts witter on about its warm sound while everyone else listens to MP3s. Today the best cars money can buy are all internal combustion but that's changing and changing fast. Tesla have done amazing work but they're tiny minnows compared to the big boys of the motoring world. When BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Porsche, Rolls Royce, etc. start putting serious effort into electric cars the improvement in quality and range will be dramatic.

ShivP · 20 Jan 2018 at 22:46

I still think we will be seeing hybrid or range extender electric for a few years yet
Hopefully give me enough time to earn some money and experience some proper ICE cars before they die altogether

CaptainRAVE · 20 Jan 2018 at 23:26

Mr Jack said:
I suspect in thirty years time there will be a small group of enthusiasts going on about petrol cars in the same way as vinyl enthusiasts witter on about its warm sound while everyone else listens to MP3s. Today the best cars money can buy are all internal combustion but that's changing and changing fast. Tesla have done amazing work but they're tiny minnows compared to the big boys of the motoring world. When BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Porsche, Rolls Royce, etc. start putting serious effort into electric cars the improvement in quality and range will be dramatic.

Given how slow the decision making is in this country I suspect it will take a lot longer to have an infrastructure to manage it.

Joe T · 21 Jan 2018 at 08:33

Nasher said:
Surely that's the point in the roadster, since they boast it will be the fastest road car ever. If it can't manage one lap on a track day people will be disappointed...

If that's the case, what they mean is it's the fastest car away from the lights ever. But not much else.

You've driven the Roadster on a track already?

Besides, it's a sports car not a track car.

Tesla has ruined cars for me.

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